SA wool Industry in conversation with director general Ramasodi

[{“type”:”text”,”content”:”The congress brings together all the provincial wool sheep producer leaders from the commercial, communal- and emerging sectors, delegates from the Lesotho wool growers association, as well as other stakeholders in the wool industry.nnThis is the first time a high-ranking official attended an NWGA national congress since minister Senzeni Zokwanau2019s visit in 2015. nnDuring the conference, Ramasodi hailed agriculture as the backbone of South Africa, indicating growth of 13,4% in 2020 and 8.3% in 2021. Furthermore, he acknowledged the wool industryu2019s work to uplift communal and emerging wool producers.”,”position”:0,”id”:”9H8H6OONQ6xlLKvL”},{“type”:”image”,”content”:”https://agrisaonline.com/images/739″,”position”:1,”id”:”i1qr6j4ksDA5pZFk”},{“type”:”text”,”content”:”*Mooketsa Ramasodi, director general (DG) of the department of agriculture, land reform and rural development (DALRRD) praised the agriculture industry while attending this yearu2019s NWGA national congress.*nnAfter the congress the DG met with various industry role-players, including representatives from NWGA, wool brokers, wool buyers, and Cape wools South Africa. He also visited a wool broker store that is registered to export wool to China. Here he familiarized himself with the protocols that were put in place in 2019, as required for export certification due to outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). This was done in view of the recent ban on the exporting of wool to China.”,”position”:2,”id”:”IAgM9KWAEYMwS2hX”},{“type”:”image”,”content”:”https://agrisaonline.com/images/740″,”position”:3,”id”:”u2qJ25ZKf6V4g6da”},{“type”:”text”,”content”:”*One of the topics discussed at the conference was the ban on South African wool exports to China.*nnAccording to the NWGA General Manager, Mr Leon de Beer, the organisation discussed various industry challenges with the DG, such as the export ban of South African wool to China (more than 80% of the countryu2019s wool was exported to China in 2020/21), the challenge related to the non-issuing of work permits for shearers from Lesotho, and the re-establishment of the very successful genetic improvement programme for communal producers. Biosecurity, including the non-availability of certain vaccines produced by Onderstepoort biological products (OBP) were also highlighted as a serious threat to the industry.nnDe Beer said the industry is satisfied that the DG is now well-informed of these challenges, and that he agreed that the minister of agriculture had to present a comprehensive plan to cabinet on how to deal with all the current animal health issues the country faces, especially FMD. A biosecurity task team was appointed, and a report is to be released and implemented soon.”,”position”:4,”id”:”YY1JZAzY8DzS9lWV”},{“type”:”image”,”content”:”https://agrisaonline.com/images/741″,”position”:5,”id”:”wGqGXTEy9MvkPTbb”},{“type”:”text”,”content”:”*GOLDEN RAM RECIPIENTS: Previous golden ram recipients George de Kock (far left), Geoff Kingwill (2nd left) and Harry Prinsloo (far right) welcomed Guillau du Toit into their circle of honorary members of the association during the recent NWGA National Congress*nnThe South African Government is using the following building blocks to resolve the current issues with China:nn1. In 2019, a system was put in place to include storage facilities and a certification process.n2. Current FMD outbreaks did not appear in the major wool producing districts of SAn3. No incidences of FMD involving small stock have been reportednnThe intention of the government is to take negotiations and communication to a political level in China, indicating the issues at hand to relevant authorities in that country.nnRegarding the genetic improvement program, the DG said that u201cstatistics do not lieu201d. He commented on De Beeru2019s presentation during the Congress, and confirmed the success of the programme, especially when one considers the socio-economic parameters of its impact. The DALRRD will discuss a way forward to re-establish this successful initiative.”,”position”:6,”id”:”Tizuss3XrruIdNBn”}]